MADRID, Spain, JAN. 21, 2001 (ZENIT.org).-
Society has turned mothers´ wombs into «death row» for the unborn who are aborted. This grave denunciation is part of a Spanish episcopal document published on the occasion of «Day for Life,» which will be held Feb. 4 in Spain.
The text, prepared by the Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life, presided over by Bishop Juan Antonio Reig of Segorbe-Castellon, is addressed «to all Christians and people who love life and wish to promote it.»
In the Spanish bishops´ judgment, the human being, made in the image and likeness of God, «possesses a sacred dignity, which absolutely surpasses the rest of creatures,» and, consequently, «recognition and respect of that personal dignity is the foundation of truly human relations.»
The document for the Day of Life refers to the parable of the good Samaritan, or the «despoiled man.» The bishops say that the wounded man found on the road could be any person, who continually «appeals to the conscience of the one who finds him, so that he will recognize in the disfigured face and deformed body» the other´s image.
This despoiled person, the text says, «today is one of the thousands of children — the weakest and most innocent creatures — who are eliminated in the maternal womb.»
The bishops said that «the natural cradle of life becomes ´death row´ for [the child].» Worse yet, their statement said, «a society that legitimizes such an abominable crime like abortion is losing the very sense of human dignity, the basis of fundamental rights and true democracy.
«That specific despoiled person, could be one of the mothers who, in face of the difficulties to rear the child in her womb, is left alone. During that period when she needs much help, many times she does not find the effective support to which she is entitled.»
Neither does Spanish society give this support, «to poor immigrants who come to our land — perhaps after enduring a painful crossing — seeking an opportunity in life,» the bishops contended. Upon landing, the latter discover «that well-being is not shared by all,» the episcopal message read.
In the document, the Spanish bishops also denounce the abandonment suffered by many elderly in Spain and the world. «Society increasingly regards them as an unbearable burden,» going so far in some cases as to take recourse to «the aberration of the cultural and legal acceptance of so-called euthanasia,» which is described as «a very grave form of lack of solidarity.»
